ABSTRACT
Man's great advantage over other species in the struggle for survival has been his superior facility in turning the forces of the environment to account. In the intervals of sober reflection, when not harassed with the strain of overwork, men's common-sense speaks unequivocally under the guidance of the instinct of workmanship. Labor carries a taint, and all contamination from vulgar employments must be shunned by self-respecting men. The irksomeness of labor is a spiritual fact; it lies in the indignity of the thing. The fact of its irksomeness is, of course, none the less real and cogent for its being of a spiritual kind. Physical irksomeness is an incommodity which men habitually make light of if it is not reinforced by the sanction of decorum; but it is otherwise with the spiritual irksomeness of such labor as is condemned by polite usage.
